Lost inmate freed after 38 years without charge

A 70-year-old man who spent nearly four decades without charge and seemingly forgotten in a northern Indian prison was freed on bail yesterday after his plight was highlighted by local newspapers. Jagjivan Ram Yadav, who was arrested in 1968 for allegedly murdering his sister-in-law, never faced trial because his records had been lost.

He was then forgotten in India's vast justice system. His family had long given him up for dead. Chief Justice YK Sabharwal, of the supreme court in New Delhi, ordered that he be bailed on a personal bond. Mr Yadav is expected to join his wife in Milkipur village.